Let's be Bad Guys

Warrior Woman and Hired Gun
15 mm

"Are those grenades?"
"Cap'n doesn't want them." 
"We're robbing the place, we're not occupying it." 

Here's my second-last post of GZG's spaceship crew figures: the muscle.  Here we have the Captain's loyal war buddy turned First Mate, and a distinctly more mercenary fighter from the crew.  Both very deadly in a fight.  I'll admit to sculpting on the mercenary's hat after painting was well underway... not the first time I've done that.  Sometimes you just start to see that a figure needs something extra.

Stag Party

Peryton
28 mm

Here's another model that's a bit different from my usual fare.  It's not often that I have a chance to tout fantastic(al) Latin-American author Jorge Luis Borges on this blog, but here's my chance.  The griffon-like Peryton is his creation, from his 1957 Book of Imaginary Beings.  If you read one Latin-American author ever... maybe it should be Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but Borges seems a lot more fun ;)

The figure is Reaper Bones Peryton (A Julie Guthrie sculpt!); it was a Christmas gift from my daughter :)

As usual, I'm seeing a lot of things I should improve or fix now that I've taken photos, but that will have to wait for another time...

Crate Draggin'

Container Transport
Scale unknown

I don't normally paint spaceship minis, but Ground Zero Games has a pretty nice selection of civilian ship models, so on a whim I picked up a few in my latest order.   I'm not sure what scale this model is supposed to be: if the containers are standard modern sea-container size it could be around 1:700, but that would make the ship pretty small.  I would assume at least 2-3x that.

I decided this cargo hauler looked like a suitable ride for a couple of scruffy-looking characters I'd already painted, with a bit of influence from the amazing 1996 film "Space Truckers" thrown in for good measure.  Maybe one of those containers has square pigs in it!

One of the better effects in the movie, which TBH isn't saying much.

Space Bunny arrivals!

I just got a pretty exciting package in the mail... two crisp resin figures from Space Bunny Arts: 

I'd been following the slow birth of this new studio for a while and really wanted to support Peter's venture, not to mention get my hands on a couple of his sci-fi figures, suitable for use in whatever space conflict game one might be into :)  These two, "Sola Haru" and "Jehn Kibo" should paint up nicely as "Rule 63" versions of a couple of favourite characters I have painted before.  He's got a few other sculpts as well, they all look great and honestly, only budgetary constraints prevented me from buying the whole set...

Protoplasmic Terror

Shoggoth
no scale

Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes - viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells - rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile - slaves of suggestion, builders of cities - more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use and carve such things? - "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft

This Reaper Bones miniature is a weird and convoluted sculpt that captures the amorphous spirit of the powerful bioengineered creatures that Lovecraft wisely described in vague terms.  I've seen various interpretations, but this one definitely fits the bill.  It is small for 28 mm but perhaps it's an immature specimen, and consequently the Bones figure is "priced to sell", as they say.  A quick, fun paint job!

"Don't worry Leela, they're quite harmless if you know how to talk to
them... Would you like a jelly baby, teke-li-li?"

Flashing Storm of Blades

Xin Combat Acolytes
15 mm

Whirling dust in morning air,
Two warriors in the ring.
With the strength of two great bears,
They make their weapons sing.

Sparks fly high when steel meets steel,
And no one can believe
That these two men are best friends
Not enemies...

Combat Acolytes specialize in close-quarters fighting using edged and striking weapons, seemingly an anachronism in an era of energy blasters and autonomous battle drones.  But in shipboard and fortress assaults they show their value, storming through airlocks and corridors using aggressive movement as a weapon of its own.  Of course, it helps that they wear tough Kuijia III armour suits and are usually backed up by standard troopers with ranged weapons.  Nevertheless they train constantly, honing their abilities to the utmost balance of force and fluidity to ensure they always strike first.  Acolytes seeking a higher calling sometimes leave the service to follow the independent path of the Wu Xia.

Another day of meditation, Tai Chi and sparring...

Figures are Xin Trade Fleet Assault from The Ion Age.

Sightseeing... out of this world

Valles Marineris
15 mm

So I saw this orange stone in a shop and instantly knew it'd be the perfect base for a couple more of these GZG astronauts.  I suck at identifying rocks, my best guess is that it's metamorphic... something.  Here, it's Mars :)